Rangers left to rue their missed chances as St Mary’s take spoils

Trevor McMinn

Confidence in front of goal was the downfall of Banbridge Rangers in their Intermediate A League fixture at Cheney Park on Saturday against St Mary’s.

The away side had scored two of their three clear cut chances on Saturday whilst the ‘Gers failed to convert on numerous occasions when on top.

Rangers boss Richard McMinn was able to welcome back both Neil Clydesdale and Jeff Brady into the starting line up after long term injury layoffs but was without top scorer Colin Cunningham for the clash against a St Mary’s team who had got the better of the Banbridge team at the start of January in the return fixture.

The first clear chance of the match fell to Colin Cousins who found himself free inside the area but his volley came off a St Mary’s defender for corner.

The Saints first clear opportunity in the 22nd minute resulted in the opening goal when a cross into the box wasn’t cleared and their striker pounced to fire past Blevins.

St Mary’s had a penalty appeal turned away with the competitive game being marshalled by referee Killian Kerr.

Before the half time interval Mark Wilton, making his second start of the since returning to the club, headed a corner just inches over the bar whilst Cousins was blown for a marginal offside call as he found the back of the net.

Banbridge Rangers came out of the blocks in the second half looking for the equaliser but failed to convert from a goalmouth scramble and saw an effort from Teggart go just over the bar.

St Mary’s picked up several cautions in an attempt to stop Rangers dictating the game but despite looking comfortable in possession the cutting edge was lacking from the home side. A break away second goal for St Mary’s in the 67th minute seemed to kill the game as a contest and with very few chances late on Banbridge Rangers saw another key game league game evade them.

Attention turns to the Marshall Cup this Saturday where Banbridge Rangers will travel to high flying Intermediate B team Windmill Stars to battle it out for a place in the Quarter Finals.